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mishibashimori · 1 year

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Two Of Us || Cecil Stedman x Reader || Chapter 5

Synopsis: You are an alien who crash landed onto Earth. You have no name, and no more home to go back to. The Guardians of the Globe have rescued you and brought you to get intensive care under the great Cecil Stedman. In helping out your new home, Earth, will you develop a relationship with the coldest man you know?

General Info: AFAB Gender Neutral Reader, Cecil is Younger in the Beginning and it Will Lead to Current Events, Reader is a Bubbly Optimist, Reader Description is Intentionally Vague so You can Imagine the Alien Species They Are However You’d Like

TW: Verbal and Physical Past Abuse, Failed Pregnancy Mentions, Depression, Self Depreciation, Eventual Sexual Content.

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It had been a few days since you and Cecil had your drunken night. It wasn’t intentional that you hadn’t spoken since then, at least not on your end, but it grew worrisome in your mind. You learned Cecil wasn’t the most fluent in conveying— well, anything he was thinking, in the six months you’ve known him. Whether he did it on purpose or not you really hadn’t figured out yet. But that night was the most genuine you’d ever seen him. You’d be lying if you said it hadn’t been on your mind, and that it definitely did not give you a giddy feeling. Yet it seemed that something changed that night as well, and not for the better. Regardless, you decided to settle your troublesome torrent of thoughts this morning.

After walking around for a bit longer than you’d like to admit, you finally found the cafeteria in this maze of a place and grabbed a dozen donuts. You weren’t entirely sure what flavor he liked- they all seemed so good- so you just got as much as you could. On your wander you had even stopped by to check on Alana. She was still unconscious but doing much better after your help. Holly had been there, too. After giving her your regards, you set off again.

Finally, you spotted Cecil. It had taken a few questions to lingering agents in the halls about his whereabouts, but you found him. He was standing in the middle of a room full of people on computers, his hands in his pockets and his posture tall, commanding. His back was turned to you as he busily gave orders, so you decided to hang back and wait. Taking a seat, you set the box of donuts on the table in front of you and turned to an agent busily typing away.

“Hello.” You greeted, giving a smile.

The agent, a young man of maybe nineteen, gave a startled noise and turned to you for a brief moment. “Oh, hello. Um, did you need something?”

“Not particularly,” you cocked your head, “just wanted to say hello.”

The man gave you an inquisitive look behind his sunglasses but responded politely. “Oh, well, my name is Donald. Nice to meet you.”

Before you could respond, you sensed a presence walking up to your other side. Turning, you were met with the steely blue eyes of Cecil. Your happy expression immediately faltered at the look on his face.

“Can I talk to you in private?” He asked lowly, throwing a warning glance at Donald. Immediately taking the hint, Donald spun back around and busied himself once more.

“Of course.” You grabbed the box of donuts and followed Cecil out of the room. An uncomfortable squirm in your stomach grew as he took you a good few feet away from the door and turned to face you.

“I can’t be irresponsible anymore,” he started, emotion void in his voice. “From now on, you and I will remain professional. We aren't friends, and we don’t have a relationship other than being colleagues.” The expression on your face must’ve been absolutely miserable, because Cecil’s own face shifted quickly to something painful for a brief moment before he steeled himself again.

“Why?” You asked, your voice wavering a bit.

Cecil took a deep breath before responding. “This job is dangerous, and time consuming. I can’t let emotions cloud my judgment on anything. I got too involved with you.” There was a long silence that followed his words as you took them in. Cecil drew himself up, seemingly steadfast in his belief as he squared his shoulders. You bowed your head.

“I see.” Without further prompting, you gently set the box of donuts into his hands and gave a small nod. Grief grew like gnarled vines in your chest, making your throat tight. It took everything in you to choke out words. “Thank you for all you’ve done. I’ll leave you be.”

Cecil looked almost shocked, as if he didn’t expect you to react so amiably, though he recovered quickly. “I hope you understand that this is for the best.” He said softly. His tone and face were as cold and emotionless as ever, almost how it was when you had first met him. You just simply walked away, numbly gazing at the floor. Something in you was screaming to look back, but you fought it. Cecil had been transparent and firm on his word, there was no reason to challenge him.

It wasn’t clear where you were planning to go, so you just resided yourself to wander once more around the halls of the GDA. Eventually your feet led you to the hospital wing of the building. Mustering up what little optimism was left in you today, you made your way to Alana’s room. Upon entering you found Holly sat beside your friend, gently stroking her forehead. “Hey Holly.”

Holly jerked her head up, obviously startled by your sudden presence. “Oh, it’s just you.” She sounded relieved. “Hello.” She gestured to a chair on the opposite side of Alana’s hospital bed where you took a seat. “How’re you this morning? Your body feeling better?”

“My body?” You echoed, momentarily confused. Realization slowly crept back to you. How could you have forgotten the accident that landed you here in the first place? Your mind was really roaming away from you. “Oh, yes. It’s doing much better. I feel a lot stronger.”

Holly gazed at you for a while in silence. “How’s your mind? You seem out of it.”

“I’m okay.” You responded almost immediately. The events were still pretty fresh in your mind, having happened only a short time ago. Your brain was still reeling from the emotions you felt. It would be hard to put them into words.

“You can talk to me, if you’d want to.” Holly prompted gently.

Your eyes lingered on Alana, still unconscious in her hospital bed. “You have more than enough to deal with at the moment. I’ll be okay.” There was another long lapse into silence as you both sat. The beeping and whir of medical machines was the only noise, and you slowly relaxed into your chair at the rhythmic sound. Letting your mind wander, your gaze traveled around the room in an almost dazed state until it somehow landed on your wrist. The teleportation device was still strapped onto it. “Hey Holly, how long have you known Cecil?”

“Ah,” she gave a slight chuckle, “so that’s what’s wrong.”

A flush of embarrassment hit your cheeks, “what does that mean?” The words came out a little louder than you meant them to.

“We could all see you two getting close. He seems to care for you a great deal. And you always had that love-struck puppy look in your eyes.” She gazed down at Alana fondly, as if remembering something. “I look at Alana the same way.” Then she turned to you, a bit more of a somber expression on her face. “But he’s a closed off man. You have to be, if you do what he does. I can only guess he’s made that apparent to you.”

“He has.” You said meekly. “I respect his decision, however much I’d like it to be different.”

“Cecil has a lot of responsibility. He protects a great many people. To be that much of an omniscient force, you can’t let your judgment get clouded.” As Holly spoke, you bowed your head. You knew what she was saying was true, but it didn’t make it hurt less. “But,” she began again, “when you care for someone, it doesn’t just go away. He may not have a choice whether to let you go or not.”

You looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Holly sat up straight, her eyes clear and intense. Her words were passionate as she spoke. “The Guardians of the Globe have a similar responsibility in protecting the city. We are in constant danger.” She gave a sad glance towards Alana. “When I fell in love with Alana, I tried my best to ignore it. Situations like this are unpredictable. Any one of us could die any day.” She looked back to you, now holding your gaze steadily. “But I realized that I was going to love her either way. If we were together, or if we decided to distance ourselves, it didn’t matter. I would rather fight alongside her knowing that we shared memories and love, than to have her die and not of shared anything.”

“That’s beautiful.” You responded, smiling softly.

Holly wiped a stray tear from her eye before continuing, “I know it might be a little too early for love between you and Cecil. But if you want your relationship to grow, and he does as well, there’s nothing that should stop you.” She reached her hand towards you, and you grasped it gently. “Give him time. He’s a stuffy government agent with a lot on his mind. Let him come to terms with whatever he may be feeling. Your emotions should be taken into account too. I know it’s hard but, well, you didn’t exactly choose the easiest man to fall for.”

You gave a laugh at that, and Holly smiled at you. “Thank you. I’ll think on it.” You rose to your feet. “Will you be alright here on your own? I could grab you something to eat if you’d like.”

“I’ll be alright.” Holly responded, giving your hand a squeeze before letting go. “Go get your mind off of things.”

With a goodbye you headed off, your optimism reignited. Perhaps it wasn’t all too bad. You didn’t plan on stomping on Cecil’s wishes, but you wanted to give one last chance to rekindle your relationship. Feeling invigorated, you decided to stop by the Guardian’s training grounds.

Rounding up on the entrance, you sprinted through, feeling your muscles work wonderfully under your skin. After being confined in the hospital for so long, it felt good to stretch your endurance. You hadn’t had the chance to in a while. The training grounds opened into a wide, long space of pure white. A few pieces of exercise equipment were lined up neatly against the walls, but for the most part it was an empty room with an opportunity to test your abilities.

Like a firecracker you whistled through the perimeter of the room, occasionally taking bounds and leaps for fun. Your heart was pumping, the adrenaline of joy spurring you on. It wasn’t until you saw Josef and Immortal standing at the entrance that you screeched to a halt. The pair exchanged looks with each other along with money.

“What’s that about?” You panted, gesturing towards the twenty dollar bill in Josef’s hand.

“We made a bet that your species would get ‘zoomies’ when you were happy.” Immortal replied, an amused expression on his face.

“It’s more common than you think. Even I get them.” Josef added, shoving the money in his pocket.

“You’re the Red Rush, you always have them.” Immortal jeered, playfully jabbing Josef with his elbow. He turned his attention back to you. “So, what’s got you so excited?”

“Did Cecil finally confess his feelings for you, zabavnaya veshch’?” Josef waggled his eyebrows at you. You gave him a sour expression, and he immediately reeled back. “What, really? Was only a joke.”

“No, not exactly,” you responded, still out of breath, “it’s complicated.”

Immortal leaned back, a thoughtful look on his face. “We knew you two were getting close but— Cecil? Really? That man has feelings?” He gave a hearty laugh. “It’s not that we think you’re hard to like but Cecil is- well, Cecil. We only joked about romance between you two. Didn’t think it was actually real.”

“Well I don’t know, like I said, it's complicated.” You gave him an exasperated sigh.

“What are you guys, high schoolers?” A new voice piped up behind the pair of superheros. You lean up on your tiptoes, peering over their heads to see Darkwing strolling up. “Gossiping about crushes.”

“You’re just mad because you can’t get a boyfriend.” Josef chided him as he walked by. “Adults are allowed to indulge in romance gossip every now and then. Not everyone has to brood.” The only response he got from Darkwing was an annoyed snort.

Laughter broke out down the hall as a few more of the Guardians walked up. Samson was at the head of it. “Never argue with Josef, Darkwing, you know that.” As the rest of the Guardians behind him dispersed into the room, he rounded up to your side with an excited look. “Are we gossiping?”

You laughed and nudged him playfully before looking around, confused. “What are you all doing here?”

“It’s training day.” Immortal put in, breaking away from your group and starting to stretch. “Wanna join?”

“Yeah, we can show you some cool moves from the big leagues.” Samson struck a few comically manly poses, which earned a chuckle from you.

“That sounds—“ you began to say, before you were cut off.

“No.” You turned to meet Cecil’s steely face. His long, blond hair was tussled, and you hadn’t noticed it this morning but he looked a mess. Purple bags clung under his eyes, and his tie was loose and wrinkled.

You gave a confused look. “Why not?”

“These are professionally trained superheroes under my jurisdiction. You could get seriously hurt.”

“Well,” you start, crossing your arms and holding yourself up straight, “I have to make a decision, right? Of what I want to do on Earth, by the end of the year.”

Cecil’s eyes narrowed. “…yes.”

“And one of those decisions was joining the Guardians of the Globe.” You continued. “Let me see if I can keep up. I don’t think I’m as fragile as you think.”

He regarded you with a look of absolute annoyance, but what you said was true. With obvious reluctance he gave you a nod. “Fine. Just be careful.”

Josef gave a snarky chuckle, “big bad Cecil taken down by the rookie.”

Cecil threw him a smoldering glare. Josef using the nickname he gave you really seemed to strike a cord with him. “Remember who gives you your paycheck.” With that he turned and walked down the hall, later reappearing in a room overlooking the training grounds through a glass window. His voice crackled back to life over an intercom. “Alright, let’s get started.”

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Disclaimer:

I try to be as accurate as possible to the source material for this fan fiction, but at times I’ll get it wrong. The timelines for the Guardians of the Globe as well as Cecil are not as accurate as they should be but for the sake of wanting to have all the characters in here I fudged it. Just know that I understand not everything is accurate but let’s just try to have a good time regardless!

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